Sunday, December 3, 2017

In the light of Matt Lauer's recent firing and with the news of his long-standing behavior recently made public, multiple requests for the re-posting of this article (from 2016) have been made in the last several days. It's included here in its entirety (with updated cross-reference links at the end of the article).

MELANIA TRUMP [over-talking]: Soooo, he's an amazing guy, and ah, he really wants to bring ah, America to the next level.

Matt Lauer touching Melania Trump on the arm (during 1:10 as he says, "... practice ...) is an invasion of her personal (intimate space) and is one signal of false affection. It also is highly consistent with narcissism.

Note that on multiple occasions, Lauer refers to Mrs. Trump as if she wasn't there - in the third person:

"... Your wife is going to get to speak to the delegates ..."

"... Has she gone over the speech with you?"

"... Yeah, she looks good ..."

"... she's learned a lot from you ..."

This last example is also particularly patronizing.

Notice too, Lauer interrupts Mrs. Trump on multiple occasions.

Now flash back to the very beginning of Lauer's interview - he's leaning on the back of a seat. While this may appear to be an attempt at being casual - this dynamic is Lauer's baseline behavior of trying to assert dominance when it's out-of-context.

Focusing on Melania, during 1:14, she shrugs her left shoulder and rotates her torso toward Donald as she says, "... that'sall ..."

A shoulder shrug indicates, "I don't care"/"What does it matter?", "I don't know", or "What could I do?/What choice did I have?"

During 1:15 as she says, "... because I wrote it and ...", Melania looks to her right, blinks, and looks slightly down. Looking in this quadrant in right-hand dominant individuals is very often correlated with emotional overtones of sadness, regret and other forms of emotional discomfort. For her to look in this direction (and AWAY from Lauer) the instant she says "... I ...", strongly implies deception.

Just as she says, "... and ah, li- [stutter], with ...", Melania looks down to her left. Gaze in this direction in most right-handed people is very often associated with "internal dialog" (e.g., here deciding how to phrase an answer).

Importantly, Melania is also stuttering and again, she's looking away from Lauer.

Also of profound significance here is Donald Trump's body language. The instant after Melania says, "... because I wrote it ..." - HE TURNS AWAY. Donald Trump knew his wife was lying. Note he keeps his same facial expression - but we see a change manifested elsewhere on his body. This is an excellent example of what in nonverbal parlance is termed "Leakage".

As Melania says, "... with as little help as possible soooooo ....", both the pitch and volume of her voice increase, she leans forward with her head, neck, and torso (a "Neck Stretch"), with a Self-Righteous Head Wiggle display, her eyebrows elevate and her forehead contracts across its entire width and also elevates. In addition, she ends her sentence with the stretched-out word, "... soooooo ...". This nonverbal-verbal-paralanguage cluster is highly consistent with deception. She is emotionally uncomfortable talking about her upcoming speech and wants Lauer to change the subject.

Summary: While this analysis cannot directly discern any intent of plagiarism on her part (or her speech writer's), Melania Trump did lie when she said she had "... as little help as possible ..." writing her speech - and Donald Trump knew she was lying.

Matt Lauer's verbal, nonverbal, and paralanguage behavior are not only rude - these are classic manifestations of narcissism, invasion of personal (intimate) space/false affection, and misogyny.

Subscribe To Body Language Success

As a Body Language Expert & Physician, I've benefited dramatically from the Art and Science of Nonverbal Communication for more than 20 years.

______________________________

This website serves as a reference source for the art and science of Body Language/Nonverbal Communication. The views and opinions expressed on this website are those of the author. In an effort to be both practical and academic, many examples from/of varied cultures, politicians, professional athletes, legal cases, public figures, etc., are cited in order to teach and illustrate both the interpretation of others’ body language as well as the projection of one’s own nonverbal skills in many different contexts – not to advance any political, religious or other agenda.

This website serves as a reference source for the art and science of Body Language/Nonverbal Communication. The views and opinions expressed on this website are those of the author. In an effort to be both practical and academic, many examples from/of varied cultures, politicians, professional athletes, legal cases, public figures, etc., are cited in order to teach and illustrate both the interpretation of others’ body language as well as the projection of one’s own nonverbal skills in many different contexts – not to advance any political, religious or other agenda.